Add fire and brimstone preacher (Ralph Woodcock) who tries to bring meaning to Bud’s farewell, Bud’s youngest daughter Delightful (Margot Olivieri), a gob-stuffing gal who chows down on everything in sight, and Bud’s Southern Comfort widow Raynelle (Beverly Pitt). What do you get? A funeral to die for.

Along for the yuks are bossy Veda (Heather Hunter) and tough guy Clyde (Peter Simmonds).

Dearly Departed is a made-for-laughs comedy tossed together by Kentucky actors David Bottrell and Jessie Jones. The play struggles mightily to find a serious thread that might knit things together. It doesn’t and the gender-specific silliness and sometimes coarse comedy get tiresome before Bud is finally sent to glory.

Never mind, even if director Rozz Woodcock doesn’t give the play enough energy and edge, she knows how to give actors business that’s funny. She knows how to help them wallop over laugh lines. Best of all she knows enough not to take Dearly Departed more seriously than the flim-flam silliness it is.

How much you’ll like Dearly Departed will depend on how much you embrace the ridiculous, like characters that are deliberate stereotypes and tolerate politically incorrect barbs that sometimes sting.

Best performances of the evening come from Pitt, Jonasson, Cook and Joel.

The disturbing note of the evening is the chance this might be The Aldershot Players’ last production.

Margaret Watson, founder of the group in 1986 says, “There’s truth to that rumour, but we’re not down just yet. The trouble is, it’s almost impossible to get people to accept responsibility and do the executive and production work needed to get a show onstage.

“It’s crazy because we sell out every show. We just hope we can pull a rabbit out of the hat somehow.”

Woodcock says, “It’s very possible TAP is finished after this one. We have a few techie types and one carpenter. You get the idea? We need a lot more … I’m not optimistic.”

Pity really. Where else can you go for dinner and a show for $35? Let’s hope some theatre types step up to the plate and keep this company cranking out the comedy. These days we all need a few laughs.

Gary Smith has written on theatre and dance for The Hamilton Spectator for more than 30 years.